Hi all, Long time MAMEr, first time cabinet builder!

I have decided to use LuSiD's ver 7 plans for my first cabinet, but I have some observations and questions that I'm sure you experienced builders can help me with:
1 - LuSiD's plans call for a 38" cabinet depth at the base. Before I found his plans, I actually went to the local Mall and measured several arcade cabinets to get average dimensions. None of the real cabinets I measured were more than 30" deep. What gives? How come LuSiD's cabinet is so deep? What do I give up if I make it less deep?
1a - I'm ordering a SlikStik classic. The depth of this CP is 14.75", and according to LuSiD's plans, there is a 12" deep shelf for the CP to sit on, which means the SlikStik will stick out 2.75" from the front of the cabinet. Perhaps I can reduce the shelf depth to 10" by adding 2" of depth to the top proportions. This will also buy me extra space for the depth of the TV! Does anyone even understand my crazy talk? If you do, please comment.
2 - I can get a slightly used JVC D-Series AV-27D304 TV with S-Video and Component inputs! This TV seems like it will be great no matter which input I use, except for one issue. The TV is 30" WIDE because it has stereo speakers on each side of the tube built into teh cabinet. I'm not sure if modifying LuSiD's plans to be 30" wide (inside width) will make it look totally awkward! Anyone have any insight into my predicament??
3 - I'm contemplating performing a "hacksaw alteration" on the TV and cutting off the side speakers! As long as this does not disturb important wires or the TV's PC boartds, it should not cause an issue and I'm estimating that I can get the TV width down to 26". Does anyone think that there is a noticeable difference between a 26" and 30" cabinet? anyone have an opinion on whether I should go through the trouble??
Thanks in advance for your speedy, pertinent, and informative replies! Pasqual.